It’s one thing to tell your stakeholders that your company does the right thing; but it’s far more valuable to show them. Sustainability reports and related communication efforts are your company’s opportunity to bring your values to life and substantiate your company’s message. But doing this effectively means taking a step beyond simply providing your stakeholders with data; rather, it’s essential that you also distill that data into digestible communications that are relevant to your stakeholders. By doing so, you can improve trust, strengthen employee advocacy, and enhance your company’s reputation. Here are a few tips on communicating about sustainability effectively: 

1. Research before communicating

Customizing how and what you communicate is an important part of effective communication. Before you begin, make a list of all your stakeholders and research each audience segment. Identify their current knowledge on the subject, which communication channels will resonate and how your efforts address an issue that is (or should be) important to them. Adapting to each audience and understanding that not all data is relevant to all audiences are the foundations of powerful sustainability communications.

2. Be clear about your goals

Stakeholders are less likely to question your motives if you openly share why sustainability is important to your organization and how you established your focus areas and goals. Having clear sustainability goals—that align with your overall company/organizational strategy—will provide your team with structure for what data to focus on and how much emphasis to give to each of your sustainability efforts. Meanwhile, you’ll provide audiences a clear, cohesive message around what’s important you your company, why, and how you’re making progress toward your goals.

3. Communicate what matters and make data meaningful

Raw data can be difficult to comprehend. One of the easiest ways to help your audiences understand is to pair concepts with meaningful images, represent content using infographics, and make large data points relatable. For example, instead of just saying “one million acres,” also say, “that’s equivalent to the size of Delaware.” Helping your audience visualize the information will allow them to easily digest the content, ultimately making it more memorable. 

Also consider using compelling anecdotes and testimonials, short video clips, and interactive elements like online polls, contests, and social media to bring your stories to life.

4. Be transparent, especially on challenges and shortfalls

Trust-building begins with honest and transparent communication. If you want to use sustainability communication as a differentiator, make sure you tell the full story. Take pride in your successes and own up to the things that haven’t gone as well.  Sharing both good and bad news creates credibility and accountability. Audiences today are savvy about “greenwashing,” so honest and authentic communication always resonates best.

5. Encourage ongoing dialogue

Just allowing a way to provide feedback is not enough. The real value is through two way communications. Demonstrate you are listening and open to suggestions for improvement. By encouraging and responding to comments, questions and feedback, you can improve the effectiveness of your communication. 

Distilling complex data into digestible content isn't easy, and you might never be make all your data relevant for all stakeholders. Hopefully through these tips others will understand and appreciate your accomplishments. 

---

Kristin Dannemiller is the Sustainability Projects Leader at International Paper (NYSE: IP), a global leader in packaging and paper with manufacturing operations in North America, Europe, Latin America, Russia, Asia and North Africa.